Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules and Practices

E623330

engineering principle set management principle set project management guideline

Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules and Practices are a set of streamlined management and engineering principles that guided the highly efficient, innovative, and secretive project development culture of Lockheed’s Skunk Works.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form	Occurrences
Kelly Johnson’s 14 Rules of Management	1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	engineering principle set ⓘ management principle set ⓘ project management guideline ⓘ
appliedIn	Skunk Works projects ⓘ classified aerospace programs ⓘ military aircraft development ⓘ
associatedWith	Lockheed Aircraft Corporation NERFINISHED ⓘ Lockheed Skunk Works NERFINISHED ⓘ
author	Clarence "Kelly" Johnson NERFINISHED ⓘ
documentedIn	Skunk Works internal management guidance ⓘ writings and interviews of Clarence "Kelly" Johnson ⓘ
emphasizes	close customer–contractor collaboration ⓘ cost control ⓘ design simplicity ⓘ minimal bureaucracy ⓘ performance-based rewards ⓘ rapid decision-making ⓘ schedule discipline ⓘ security and secrecy ⓘ small empowered teams ⓘ streamlined documentation ⓘ vendor and subcontractor responsibility ⓘ
hasRule	Rule 10: The specifications applying to the hardware must be agreed to well in advance of contracting. ⓘ Rule 11: Funding must be timely and must be in line with the program schedule. ⓘ Rule 12: There must be mutual trust between the military project organization and the contractor with very close cooperation and liaison on a day-to-day basis. ⓘ Rule 13: Access by outsiders to the project and its personnel must be strictly controlled by appropriate security measures. ⓘ Rule 14: Because only a few people will be used in engineering and most other areas, ways must be provided to reward good performance by pay not based on the number of personnel supervised. ⓘ Rule 1: The Skunk Works manager must be delegated practically complete control of his program in all aspects. ⓘ Rule 2: Strong but small project offices must be provided both by the military and industry. ⓘ Rule 3: The number of people having any connection with the project must be restricted in an almost vicious manner. ⓘ Rule 4: A very simple drawing and drawing release system with great flexibility for making changes must be provided. ⓘ Rule 5: There must be a minimum number of reports required, but important work must be recorded thoroughly. ⓘ Rule 6: There must be a monthly cost review covering not only what has been spent and committed but also projected costs to the conclusion of the program. ⓘ Rule 7: The contractor must be delegated and must assume more than normal responsibility to get good vendor bids for subcontract work. ⓘ Rule 8: The inspection system must be used judiciously and must not be allowed to become cumbersome. ⓘ Rule 9: The contractor must be delegated the authority to test his final product in flight. ⓘ
influenced	contemporary aerospace project management ⓘ modern agile development practices ⓘ rapid prototyping approaches in defense programs ⓘ
influencedBy	Cold War defense requirements NERFINISHED ⓘ World War II aircraft development experience ⓘ
notableApplication	Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk development ⓘ Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird development NERFINISHED ⓘ Lockheed U-2 development NERFINISHED ⓘ
purpose	foster rapid innovation ⓘ guide advanced aircraft development projects ⓘ increase efficiency in complex engineering programs ⓘ protect secrecy of sensitive defense projects ⓘ
timePeriod	mid-20th century ⓘ

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Lockheed Skunk Works → associatedConcept → Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules and Practices ⓘ

Clarence Johnson → notableConcept → Kelly Johnson's 14 Rules and Practices ⓘ

this entity surface form: Kelly Johnson’s 14 Rules of Management